and I wrote it down, wrote, and copied it out.”

“Indeed, the righteous will be amid gardens and rivers (54), in a seat of truth, near an Omnipotent Sovereign (55).”

“Indeed, the righteous will be amid gardens”: orchards. “And rivers”: that is, rivers; it is singular only to preserve the rhyme of the verse endings. What is meant are the rivers of Paradise: water, wine, milk, and honey. Al-Dahhak said: It means brightness and spaciousness, from which comes nahār (daytime).

Al-A‘raj recited it as nuhurin, with two ḍammahs (u-vowel marks), the plural of nahār (daytime), meaning: a day in which they will have no night.

“In a seat of truth”: in a gathering of truth, containing neither idle speech nor sinful talk. “Near an Omnipotent Sovereign”: a King fully capable, whom nothing can render incapable. [Ja‘far] al-Sadiq (1) said: Allah has praised this place with truthfulness; therefore, none will sit there except the people of truthfulness.